I am at this place, the shopping mall popularly called
Shoprite in Ikeja, Lagos. I am at the KFC outlet waiting for a friend. People
walking past, minding their business, just as I am minding mine. I start to
observe a pattern. I take out my blackberry device and start to type. I can sit
here and write a book about this city and its people. The city of excellence
and people of dreams.
Cars parked, neatly arranged, everything seems to obey
order here; a typical example of how environment conditions man. This
particular environment demands decorum from these people. They pay wholly, not
because they are willing, but because this environment has subdued them.
It's an open city. Hierarchy is by how much money you
have at the moment, potential is meaningless. They come here to reduce their
accumulations. This place doesn't care; it sucks as much as it can from you,
regardless of your earning power, regardless of your willingness to spend. Some
are brought here to be spent on; some come here to spend, sometimes until they
are spent. I like this place.
There's a certain consciousness that befalls anyone as
soon as you step in through the gate. No, it's not a desire to stand out,
rather it's a desire not to fall, not fall as in hit the ground, but not to
fall one's hand. I think I am infected too, may be not consumed, but I feel it
slightly. I can still stare at people boldly, hold their gaze and cause their
eyes to drop. It's intentional.
A certain philosopher was of the opinion that man is
born free, but he is everywhere in chains. Another believed that as humans we
find ourselves living a savage impossible life; a life where we are not
educated nor protected by the state. That human nature is bad: we’ll prey on one
another in the most vicious ways.
Observing these people I remember the age long
argument whether man as an entity is fundamentally evil. I wonder how much of
that is as a result of the kind of environment a man finds himself in. I am
pushed further to wonder if man shapes the environment or it is the other way
round. If I consider this place to be a microcosm of the larger community, then
it at first appears to be that the environment shapes man, but understanding
that this place is an actual creation of man himself, then it is safe to say
that the environment is shaped by man to shape man.
The world we live in is a huge network and interplay
of expressions of various sorts and forms informed by orientation and
character. So I propose that the state and disposition of an environment at any
point in time is actually a reflection of the prevailing or dominant
orientation and character of the people therein. And if we wish to affect the
state of any environment, there has to be an adjustment of orientation and
character, I think.
